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European Coalition on Homeopathic & Anthroposophic Medicinal Products

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Lower use of antibiotics in children treated with anthroposophic medicine for acute respiratory or ear infections

Dec 04, 2014

A new study shows reduced use of antibiotics in children with acute respiratory and ear infections treated with anthroposophic medicinal products. Antibiotics were required by only 5.5% of children treated with anthroposophic therapy, compared to 25.6% of children treated with conventional medicine. Other advantages under anthroposophic therapy were: much lower use of analgesics, quicker symptom resolution, and higher caregiver satisfaction.

These findings make an important contribution to the public health problem of increasing antibiotic resistance and the need to reduce prescription of antibiotics. They also add to the evidence of benefit and safety of anthroposophic therapy for children for some very common paediatric diseases.

The findings come from a secondary analysis of the data from a prospective observational comparative study in primary care (International Integrative Primary Care Outcomes Study (IIPCOS) – Anthroposophy). The analysis comprised 529 children, treated by physicians offering anthroposophic or conventional treatment for acute cough, sore throat or ear pain under routine primary care conditions. The data was first collected in 1999-2000, but the results are just as relevant now: antibiotic prescription rates in recent observational studies with similar patients in similar settings ranged from 31% to 84%.

Antibiotic use in children with acute respiratory or ear infections: prospective observational comparison of anthroposophic and conventional treatment under routine primary care conditions. Hamre HJ, Glockmann A, Schwarz R, Riley DS, Baars EW, Kiene H, Kienle GS. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2014; Article ID 243801, 127 pp.